Also lol at my previous speculation of ‘it’s releasing soon!’. No, it wasn’t. October and 0.9 is still not out.

That said, it’s inching closer each week. He updated again the changelog.

Some new features:

Added portside bar to colonies, and related events
Added raids, bombardments, and planetary defenses
Can run salvaging operations on colonies with ruins
Colonies that have low stability for too long have a chance to become decivilized
Added pirate bases and raids
Added Luddic Path cells
Added Hegemony inspection
Added punitive expeditions
Added Synchrotron Core
Implemented Tech-Mining industry
New game start: Added easier options that start you off with multi-ship fleets - a “salvage expedition” and a “mercenary force”
Salvaging mechanics redone
Added common “delivery” mission
Added new carrier-specific d-mods
Revamped and simplified economy
Can “abandon” a size-3 colony; requires paying for (significant) evacuation expenses
Can “stabilize” a colony that’s suffering from Recent Unrest
Redone Hyperspace storms
Changed Asteroid belts/field effects and magnetic field effects.
New ship system: “Plasma Burn”
Fighters from the same carrier will now coordinate their attacks if launched together and given the proper distance to do so
Certain hullmods can now only be installed at a colony with a spaceport or an orbital station
Added hullmods:
-Additional Berthing
-Auxiliary Fuel Tanks
-Expanded Cargo Holds
-Militarized Subsystems
-Efficiency Overhaul

That’s in addition to this:

Player can establish a colony on a planet they’ve surveyed
Can build “Industries” and “Structures” (same thing, mechanically) at a colony. Examples: * Mining* Farming
Spaceport* Heavy Industry* Orbital stations (of several varieties)* Military Base* Tech-Mining
Some industries can be upgraded,
Most industries are known from the start, but a few more exotic ones can be learned
Can set a “stockpiling level” for a colony to have it build up extra resources the player can take
Player colonies have a “local resources” submarket where they can take from, or add to, stockpiles. There’s a “storage” submarket for resources that must remain untouched.
Player colonies do not have an Open Market unless there’s a “Commerce” industry
Colonies start at size 3; population growth depends on many factors and can be directly invested into
Can assign AI cores to manage industries for various, significant benefits
A Military Base produces patrols which will defend the colony
Can hire Administrators (up to a limit) to manage your colonies
Can learn skills that improve the colonies under your control
Can assign Alpha Cores to manage your colonies, for a massive benefit
Establishing the first colony also creates a new player faction.
Blueprints for ship hulls, weapons, and fighter LPCs: Required by Heavy Industry to build ships.
Affect fleet production by player colonies
Player can custom-order known ships and weapons
Player buying/selling has direct impact on market’s available commodity numbers
Player colonies can become suppliers for other factions and generate export income for the player
Factions have access to ships/weapons/fighters based on their blueprints
AI ship loadouts are dynamically generated, based on what’s available
Factions have been adjusted so that their available blueprints and doctrine make each more distinct
Faction doctrine: settings that affect faction fleet composition and ship behavior.
Each faction now has an appropriate doctrine setting.
New Monthly income and expenses, for colonies and outposts
new ship system, “Mine Strike”
Various performance improvements, should be around 20-30% faster
Greatly improved missile tracking

You could set up an AI vs AI match in Homeworld 2 too if you wanted (with a bit of modding). But you wouldn’t be able to see detailed stats while the match was underway (I think), and I just don’t think the idea would gain traction among players.

Is this the game that was supposed to be mount and blade in space? I recall a game something like that being made years ago.

Yep.

The game had a solid combat system since years ago. The last three years have been more focused on what to do in the sandbox star system: trade, surveying planets, exploring abandoned stations in the outskirts, etc.
The upcoming update is about the Industry side of things: being able to fund outposts and colonies, harm the opponent’s colonies, build fleets with their infrastructure, etc.

I bought a while back because I wanted to support the developer. I’ve pretty much held off playing it other than firing it up once just to take a look around. One issue I remember having is that text was extremely small on my monitor (1440p), which I know is a problem for a lot of 2D games. For anyone following the game more closely than I, has there been any word on if there will be any kind of UI/text scaling in the final release?